Wednesday January 18, 2006(Audio) Homily by Fr. Robert AltierSecond Week in Ordinary Time

Reading (1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37,
40-51)Gospel (St. Mark 3:1-6)

In the readings today, we see some very important things that all of us
need to learn – and very quickly – that is, we see the Pharisees, who claim to
be serving God, who are doing anything they can on the natural level to try to
trip up the Lord. They are looking for a way to be able to put Him to death. We
also hear about this Philistine who comes against David in the first reading.
He comes with sword and spear and scimitar, and he is going to try to attack
David with all the strength he has. David simply looks at him and says, You come
against me with sword and spear; I come against you in the name of the Lord of
hosts. That is where
the difference is, and all of us need to learn this lesson.

The Lord simply looked at these people in the Gospel reading today and
He was grieved by their hardness of heart. It is not any different today. We
are not looking for a way to trip up the Lord, but rather the hardness of heart
is simply that we do exactly what this Philistine did, that is, we think the
battle is ours and we think we can do it all by ourselves. Granted, we will
acknowledge that it is the Lord’s battle; in fact, Our Lord in His mercy has
given this one over to His mother, so it is her battle now and we can
acknowledge that. But then we completely forget it when it comes time to do
battle and we say, “Well, I have to do this!” No. I come against you in the name of
the Lord of hosts
is the way David approached it. It is the Lord’s battle, and David said to him,
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.

That is the way we have to be doing things. It is the Lord’s, and we
cannot fight the battle by ourselves. The enemy is far larger, far better
equipped, and far stronger than we are. Once again, look at the first reading.
Here you have a man who is gigantic, probably 6’6” or better, probably muscle
bound with all of his armor and swords and spears and shields and all of the
things he had to protect himself. David walked out with no armor. He walked out
with his shepherd’s staff and a sling, and putting a stone in the sling, he
dispatched the Philistine. It was just that simple. The Philistine was huge,
and David was just a boy. The Philistine had all the armor and protection, he
had all the equipment, he was much better equipped, he was far larger and far
stronger, but David came against him in the name of the Lord of hosts. God, of
course, is far bigger and far stronger than anything and everything in all of
creation. That is what we all need to learn, and we need to get that so deeply
imbedded into us to understand that it is not our battle – it is the Lord’s
battle and He is the One Who will fight for us.

That does not mean we just sit back and do nothing. We have our part to
do, just like David had to go out and meet the Philistine in battle, and Jesus
had to go into the synagogue and be able to face these people who wanted to put
Him to death. They did not back away, and we cannot either. But it also means
that we do not necessarily have to arm ourselves to the hilt and fill our
houses with six months’ worth of food and all kinds of other bizarre things
that people get themselves into. It is the Lord’s battle and He will let us
know what we need to do and when we need to do it. He will take care of
everything if we trust, if we pray, and if we approach things in His name,
truly in His name. David walked out onto the battlefield with faith, and that
is exactly what we have to do because the battle, we must understand, is not
against flesh and blood. The battle, Saint Paul tells us, is against the
principalities and powers of darkness and the rulers of this world. It is
against Satan and his minions, and we cannot take them on by ourselves. It is
far more a spiritual battle than it is a physical battle, so we need to pray
and we need to make sure that we have a proper disposition to be able to say
with David, I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts.

We have the most powerful weapon of war, and I hope every one of you
has one in your purse or in your pocket. It is called the Holy Rosary. There is
not much that is going to be more powerful than that in this battle. Our Lord
has given us everything we need. All that we need to do is arm ourselves
properly, that is, with what He gives us to be armed with, and we need more
than anything to have the proper disposition, that it is His battle and not
ours, and that we are here as His servants to do His work. And so when we face
the enemy of our souls, we do not stand by our own strength, by anything that
is natural, but rather we will look at him and we will tell that vile creature,
I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts.

e is telling us, Thisi s what I want, but I
want

*This text was
transcribed from the audio recording of a homily by Father Robert Altier with minimal editing.